Evolutions primed for move to ‘bigger and better’ HQ

Evolutions is preparing to move into new premises in Soho after the landlord of its Berners Street HQ decided to redevelop the building into a restaurant and flats.

The post-production company started work on the fit-out of its new Sheraton Street base earlier this month, and the 13,000 sq ft premises is due to open in March.

Evolutions managing director Simon Kanjee said the new premises would be 30% bigger than the current HQ. The facility will house 25 offlines, five Symphony suites, a Baselight grading suite, and two audio rooms.

Kanjee said: “We have been able to design every element of the new facility and have based all our decisions on what we think will work best for our clients. Last autumn, we had to use 40 outsourced suites to meet all our bookings. “There is some additional space within the new building and we foresee expansion to meet the growing needs of the business.”

Kanjee said there would be no change to the number of staff employed, and the company would retain its Great Pulteney Street and Wells Street buildings.

The Sheraton Street site will have native HD broadcast monitoring throughout, with an Avid Isis 5500 workflow and storage platform sitting at the heart of the facility. Tier-two storage will be provided by kit from Infortrend and Spectralogic, while archiving capacity will come from Xen Data.

Operations director Owen Tyler said the new build would “deliver to the evolving needs of fi le-based television in 2014 without having to work around baseband legacy infrastructure designed for the last decade”.